Paediatric eye care in the area will receive a boost with Susrut Eye Foundation & Research Centre receiving a grant of $80,000 from Taiwan, thanks to an agreement signed last week between Orbis International and the ministry of foreign affairs, Taiwan.
Orbis International, a non-profit organisation which provides hands-on training to partner institutions to build long-term capability in providing quality eye care, is partnering Susrut in a comprehensive childhood blindness project.
“This is a six-year project which aims to develop Susrut’s paediatric eye care centre with support equipment and trained paramedics,” said Rahul Ali, the country director for Orbis. A mobile vision van will be launched in 2016 which will screen patients on the ground. It will also work as a spectacle dispensing unit. Those needing surgery would be referred to the hospital. “This will strengthen our outreach programme,” said Dr Ratish Chandra Paul, secretary of Susrut.
The eye hospital is building a block of nine storeys adjacent to its existing structure in HB Block. According to hospital sources, it is expected to be complete in 2017.
